


with bright lights, all my life, i'll hold myself, all my life

by YoonseokBruh



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/F, No Smut, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-23 21:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15615525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoonseokBruh/pseuds/YoonseokBruh
Summary: "Superpowers to me are like performing. You need the skills and a bit of imagination. You need to treasure and use the emotions your power brings but not deviate it from it's original purpose."-Kim TaeyeonSon Hyejoo has a secret, with only one touch of her hand anything she desires can die. Choi Yerim has a different secret, the visions aren't the problem but the scenarios that come with them, are something much more than a problem.





	1. Hyejoo - 1

Hyejoo was smart, well at least smart enough to know that she couldn’t tell anybody about what she was hiding.

 

The girl had a secret, one that nobody would be a fan of. She could kill someone with her touch, it could be anything. Just one touch and it was all over and for that reason she was extremely scared and anxious when her parents put her in one of those prestigious schools for kids with powers, superpowers as made up as it sounded. (And because she’d much rather be at public school than in an expensive school her mom was wasting money on.)

 

The school was called _Loona,_ an academy for special students or as Hyejoo liked to call it, the ones that are either extremely privileged or extremely fucked. Though whenever she voiced that opinion outloud her mom seemed to disagree with her. It didn’t matter how many kids seemed to disappear there or have unfortunate accidents.

 

It didn’t matter that they were alienating them to other kids their age, it didn’t matter that it took so much money to get into, it didn’t matter that they didn’t have that money. At least not to Hyejoo’s mother.

 

So even though she protested and protested, yelled and screamed, she was registered. Hyejoo, a mister, someone able to see through powers and use that to help people. (Like she would ever believe that crap.)

 

Sadly seeing through bullshit was not the only thing she was good at, and definitely not her most important skill. The other one was about ten times more dangerous and ten times lethal than her other one as mentioned before,

 

being able to kill someone or anything with one touch.

 

The first sign was the bird. Hyejoo was only five at the time, around the time where powers would usually show up. The bird showed up everyday on her windowsill, the closest thing she had to a friend at the time. Hyejoo named it Sayeon, a beautiful name for a beautiful creature, one that she admired more than anything else at the time.

 

Then came the day it came home with a broken leg. Hyejoo cried and cried, the bird falling into their yard looking for help. She was honored, that her house was the one the bird went to when it wanted help. So she went to it, some bandages and ointment in her hand, fully prepared to help the bird get back to it’s former state.

 

And then she killed it, watched the life fall out of it’s eyes. Watched as it stopped twitching and became still. Watched as she murdered it, took the life out of it’s body and subjected the poor animal to it’s denouement.

 

Unfortunately that wasn’t the last something to be subjected to her power or as she called it-

 

“Hyejoo are you excited?”

 

“Not really, why can’t I just stay at home. I’m doing well back at school and I don’t like being so far away.”

 

“Home doesn’t give you the same opportunities this place does. And trust me in a month you will forget all about me and public school.”

 

“No I won’t, not when if anyone sees my power, I’ll be jailed up and arrested, mom!”

 

“You won’t, I trust you Hyejoo. You’re responsible and smart, you’ll be fine.”

 

“It’s just not fucking fair!”

 

“Life isn’t fair, and watch your profanity around me. I’ve sacrificed a lot to send you to this school. And you shouldn’t even continue to argue since we’re here.”

 

Hyejoo huffed before getting out of the car. While she would rather yell at her mom than obey her at this point, she knew it would get her nowhere. So she got up and followed her mom into

“These are for the usual stuff, like math and science and english. The training rooms are completely different though, the classrooms though are for the more typical stuff.”

 

They continued down the hallway unit they got to the dorms, “So te school is doing a new thing this year. Instead of rooming people who have the same ability as you they’re putting everybody with random people. It completely goes against the boarding school mindset of setting people up with a family who you can relate to. Sooyoung and I tried to protest but they wouldn’t listen to two of their best students for some reason.”

 

“But isn’t kind of good that more people of mingling, they’ll most likely stay with the people they’re most comfortable with. Isn’t it good that more people are being introduced to each other.”

 

“Well yeah, it's all nice and inclusive and a good idea until some kids find a way to set water on fire.”

 

“Isn’t that cool though.”

 

Jungeun hit her with the clipboard. “Anyway your dorm is a four person dorm. All our dorms range from three to six people, so you were mostly lucky. There is Sooyoung and Jiwoo which is actually great for you. If you ever want to sneak out you’ll mostly be successful because when they are around each other, basically nothing else exists. And then there is Chaewon, I’m doing her introduction later today, she is new like you.”

 

They did take a look at her dorm. It was way bigger than Hyejoo would have ever expected. The room was something else, there was already vines and flowers on one wall and the other was almost identical if not for the fact that the flowers were pink and not red. Even her allergy pills couldn’t protect her from this. Hyejoo then preceded to let out a couple sneezes.

 

“I have allergies.”

 

“See this what I told you, it is completely a safety hazard to have students of different powers in one room.” Jungeun said as they moved on.

 

The next part of the school was what Hyejoo found to be the most entertaining. As Jungeun called them challenge rooms, or most students dimises.

 

Hyejoo was absolutely shocked.

 

They checked out the water room first, well it was more of a tank than a room. The glass wall separated them but Hyejoo really felt like she was at the ocean. There were a variety of fishes, and coral that seemed to be real. The water went so far that Hyejoo couldn’t see the end the wall on the other side, it was something else just like the rest of the school.

 

Then they checked out the room for the students that worked with space, or the cosmic girl. There actually was a girl in there though Hyejoo barely paid her any attention. The room was completely bare except for some weird objects, some rocks that she had never seen before, and even some plants. “Hello!”

 

Jungeun immediately sprung to life, “Hi, Yeonjung. Do you mind showing Hyejoo some of your talent?”

 

Yeonjung immediately perked to life, and as though she was from a movie started to work. With just her hand, a portal like circle appeared. Yeojung stepped through it before appearing right next to Hyejoo. Yeonjung smiled at her but it took everything in Hyejoo to not grimace, she hated having people close to her.

 

“Cool.” She muttered.

 

“Took me a lot of practice.”

 

“Why?”

 

“You can’t just immediately open portals, silly!” The girl said with a giggle.

 

“Thanks, Yeonjung. Have a nice day!” Jungeun said and they were on their way.

 

Though that causes the raven haired girl to think, would she ever be able to train her power? She has only thought of it to be black or white, that she got her power and that’s just how it is. Maybe there was a way to work to control it, but she put that thought in the back of her head to focus more on Jungeun’s speech.

 

The next habitat, or whatever the school wanted to call it. The next room was something else, probably the most impressive to Hyejoo. Crystals lined the walls, and made up the floors, diamonds hung from the ceiling and quartz were on the walls as if they were paintings. The room absolutely shined, the crystal’s luster making the room completely luminous and almost absolutely unbearable for Hyejoo. She could only fathom how much just one of those crystals cost.

 

“Impressive, huh?”

 

“Yeah.” She could only say, still in shock from the room she had just been in.

 

The rest came in a similar fashion. All the other rooms were impressive and close to it, though Hyejoo didn’t think there was a room for people who could kill with one touch.

 

There was one for misters though. The room was completely black, no windows or anything interesting except the chair in the middle of the room. The chair was large and had a console on the side. “That’s for you. When you practice or take your end of semester exam, this is where you go. I wish I could explain but I would ask another twice about that one.”

 

“Another twice?”

 

“Oh, that's a nickname for misters. Like how we nickname the people who work with metal, pristines.”

 

“I guess that makes sense.”

 

“Next is actually our principal's office, you won’t usually be here as we have a dean but some issues the principal actually like to hash it out himself.”

 

Hyejoo took in a deep breath, authority really wasn’t her thing. Even though she would much rather be at public school than this school it didn’t mean public school was a piece of cake. The raven haired girl kept good grades but did do some questionable things. There was a time she punched another girl in her grade, another time when she punched a girl out of her grade, and the time she punched a girl that was actually a staff member. None of those situations went well, but still not as bad as Hyejoo expected them to be.

 

Then there was also the time she accidentally killed another bird and to make it look less, _evil,_ she had cut it open in the science room and when people found it she said she was studying for when they had to cut open a frog.

 

She got four months of detention, and public humiliation as the student aids in the dean’s office had no problem spreading the story to the rest of the school. The day after that was the day when Hyejoo decided to permanently wear gloves.

 

It really wasn’t a surprise that Hyejoo didn’t have that many friends.

 

Surprisingly the principal’s office was the most normal looking thing in the whole castle. It actually reminded Hyejoo of her mom’s desk at work though it gave off a different feel. The desk was disheveled with paper lying everywhere and anywhere. The desk was also littered with coats and multiple coffee cups, even a cat lied on the desk fast asleep in the mess.

 

“That’s sugarcube, she’s basically the staff’s pet.” Jungeun said pointing at the cat.

 

“Oh, really.” Hyejoo said though she really couldn’t bring herself to notice the cat as the room seemed to be much more interesting.

 

The rest of the room was instead insanely clean. There was only one window and it was located at the very top of the room. By the door there was a coat rack though it didn’t seem to be in use and lastly a painting, all of these items seemed to be regularly wiped down and dusted unlike the desk. After that there was just the light blue walls, for some reason it didn’t really put her at ease.

 

Hyejoo wasn’t really focused what Jungeun said, instead focused on the room. It gave her the same vibes as her last principal’s office did too, only it was magical just like the rest of the school. “Does the principal have any student aids?”

 

“No, but you can apply. After the tour I could print you out an application!” Jungeun said, most likely excited that someone was getting interested in school activities.

 

“I would like that.” Hyejoo said still eyeing the cat.

 

“If you want you could pet her.” The blonde suggested.

 

“Nah, I’m good.” She replied and with that they left. Though she felt like something was off in there, whatever it was. Though like almost every other important occuring thought Hyejoo has had over the last couple hours, she pushed it to the back and just focused on the rest of the tour.

  


“So next we have the dining hall. You’re allowed to sit with anyone you want but everybody mostly hangs out with their power group. The food is surprisingly good for a boarding school, so that’s a plus.”

 

“Probably better than what my mom makes.”

 

“Don’t be silly. Your mom is probably secretly a professional chef.”

 

The taller girl internally flinches even though she knows Jungeun isn’t saying anything remotely offensive. It just reminds Hyejoo of all the cheap ramen and TV dinners they’ve had over the past few months to get her into the stupid school, all the electricity bills that were never payed, all the luxuries her mom gave up just so she could have some. And then add on the fact of how much pain her power has caused her mother in general and...

 

Hyejoo suddenly feels like cursing and crying at the same time, though she’s leaning towards the latter.

 

“You okay?”

 

“Yeah, just a sudden bit of homesickness.”

 

Jungeun gets closer to her and Hyejoo can barely registers the words, as a hand comes closer to her, “Don’t touch me!”

 

The blonde suddenly takes a step back, “I’m sorry, I was just going to pat your shoulder.”

 

“Just I don’t do well with contact, I don’t like it and I never will. So don’t touch me.”

 

“Is that why you literally are covered everywhere except for your face. And just so you know if you want I could tell them you have an excuse to wear gloves around campus.”

 

“That would be nice.” Hyejoo says, tugging at her glove.

 

“Yeah, I’m just a true miracle worker.” Jungeun says

 

Hyejoo smiles, this Jungeun girl is okay.

 

-

 

Hyejoo has taken to laying in one of the upper study chambers, it’s small compact and one of the only rooms that gives her even a small resemblance to back home. She thinks of the library by her house and all her friends and how she already misses home.

 

Suddenly her peace is ruined by a girl named Sooyoung, apparently the girl left in charge of their dorm. “So Jiwoo wants to meet you! Do you mind coming back inside the room?”

 

“I can’t.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I have plant allergies.”

 

Surprise is shown quickly on Sooyoung’s face. “I would suggest you ask for a room change, you seem lovely but Jiwoo. She just does that naturally, she’s not at the point to control it yet.”

 

“You mean there is a way to control powers?” Hyejoo asks her nonexistent interest suddenly peaked.

 

“Yeah the easy ones, the stronger ones are harder. I’ve only heard of two people who could control their mind control powers.”

 

“Okay.” Hyejoo says processing the information.

 

“Anyway we could file for a room replacement.”

 

“I’m think I’m good I’ve slept in some uncomfortable places before.”

 

“I’m not going to let you suffer in that room with your allergies!” Sooyoung says harsher.

 

The raven haired girl hits the other one with a book. “Calm down, mom. We literally live in a castle, I bet I could sleep here if it came down to it.”

 

“But-“

 

“No, I’ll be fine Sooyoung.”

 

“We literally have a curfew on what time to be in our rooms, I don’t think you can get out of this one.”

 

“Well, guess I’ll just have to find a way around it.”

 

Sooyoung cracks a smile at her stubbornness, “Just know when you get caught, I’ll make sure you’re fine. Anyway are you eating dinner with us tonight?”

 

“Yeah, sure.”

 

“Okay, I guess I’ll see you then.”

 

“See you then!”

 

The moment Sooyoung was gone, Hyejoo was immediately up and looking through the library. _Control your power, minimize your power, use your power to your advantage._

 

Books on how to control power.

 

Hyejoo looked and looked and looked. It was hard with the scale and design of the library. There was at least six stories, and there seemed to be books of any kind. And the architecture of the library was also beautiful, murals upon murals on the wall. Quotes in different languages, and staircases that made it easier accessing the books on the upper shelves. To see the least it was, _gorgeous._

 

That sentence took Hyejoo a lot of effort to say even in her head.

 

Then suddenly Hyejoo almost walked into somebody. The girl she had almost bumped  into had long brown hair and a smile, that even made Hyejoo melt. She turned to pick up her books and then turned to her, “What are you looking for?”

 

“Books on how to control powers.” The taller girl replied.

 

“You new? That’s basically what every new student looks for. Really the book you’re looking for depends on the power. You are a?” The girl asks.

 

Hyejoo tries to backtrack, “Really just books about power and control of them throughout the centuries, if you knew where those are!”

 

The girl lights up, “Oh something like that. We have a book like that on the third floor!”

She seemed to know what she was doing and because of this Hyejoo blindly followed, like she knew anything about such a big library like this. In the span of them rushing to the section of which the book she wanted the taller girl was actually able to find out a lot about the other like her name was Haseul, her power was intelligence, and actually was a librarian’s aid.

 

Hyejoo actually liked her, though the vibes she gave off wasn’t the same as Hyejoo’s. Haseul’s bracelet had to have cost more than what Hyejoo’s whole outfit cost. She also talked like she was in a job interview, like Hyejoo knew what _equanimity_ or _philistine_ meant. And she was sure she didn’t want to know, they might have been insults for all she knew.

 

They finally came across the section, and Haseul not even needing a ladder was able to get the book, _development of powers and power control over the centuries._

 

“Thanks.” Hyejoo said holding the book in her hands, it was heavy and seemed to have more pages than all the books she had read in her life put together. (Though she couldn’t even remember the last time she read a book.)

 

“No problem, everyone takes the library for granted. It’s the most useful recourse you could have in the school. And trust me, there is a lot more to it than just books written a century ago.”

 

“Well guess I’ll be seeing you around then.” Hyejoo said and after checking out her book left, not having any idea of where to go or what to do since she couldn’t even be in her own room. Though she didn’t know she wanted to if she could, Sooyoung seemed to serious and reminded her of her mother to much for Hyejoo to ever feel comfortable.

 

She already misses her mom, but that thought would have to stay in the back of her mind for now. She had more pressing problems than that.

 

Hyejoo had decided to wander, the castle was massive and she knew there had to be somewhere that she could go. She also had to find a place to sleep though she also wouldn’t like to think about that.

 

There were many empty rooms, many of which she could walk right into. She saw some more rooms that were obviously designed for people with powers and saw some that didn’t seem like that. She was even able to find a room that was completely full of paintings, though she wouldn’t exactly say they were appealing to her. She already missed her phone screen.

 

This didn’t stop her searching at all though and she continued on, looking through classroom and classroom, hallway through hallway, and everywhere else.

 

Though first closest she found was locked. Thankfully, Hyejoo was no stranger to bobby pins and quickly slid one out of her hair. The door opened with a click and she almost yelled with how happy that made her, she was already breaking rules. She stepped in and locked the door behind her again, making sure that nobody knew that she was there.

 

The room seemed to be one for the students that worked with plants. It was gorgeous though she knew it could kill her if she got to close. Aconitums accompanied with statice lined the edges of the room. The walls weren’t visible at all with the monstrosity of plants in the room, they covered every single surface and were basically innumerable. Then Hyejoo started sneezing and she knew she had to get out of there immediately before she had started to have a more extreme reaction.

 

The raven haired girl rushed back to the door and found that no matter how much she tried to move the lock and escape, the door would not budge. It had locked her in there and the first

time in forever, Hyejoo might have been in a room with something more dangerous than her. _Fucking plants,_ Hyejoo would not let plants kill her, not under any circumstance.

 

Then the rashes started appearing, she didn’t know what plant caused them put she knew she had to get away. Then a second after it was becoming harder to see, the plants pollen filling up her nose and making her frustrated.

 

Then Hyejoo had a plan. She didn’t care how disappointed the students who studied plants would have been but she knew more than anything, she had to live. She had to escape from this school and get a job and provide for her mom, she had to make it out alive. Too much was counting on her, and even though the school now took a stance as her mortal enemy, that financial aid would not go to waste if Hyejoo had anything to say about it.

 

So with that she ripped off her glove and with that she started, moving around the walls, plants dying under her fingers. Hyejoo couldn’t bring herself to care and she couldn’t bring herself to stop, not when she realized that besides the door there was no walls. The walls were plants, and escaping wouldn’t actually by that hard if the black spots in her vision would go away.

 

Then she fell out of the room onto the floor, gasping for breath and feeling at the hives around her ankles, thank god she was covered in clothes.

 

The fear then set in, what if there was cameras? What if she got thrown in jail because her power, what if she never got out and she would never be able to repay her family. What if they found out about, _what if they found out about my past?_

 

She then started to cry, she officially hated this school and everything that came with it. And she hated herself for going against rules so suddenly. She hated herself for crying in this hallway and she hated seeing the dead plants because of her. They might be plants but she still killed them, drained the life and energy out of them just like she could do to a person.

 

Hyejoo wanted fucking out and she didn’t care what she would have to do to get out.

  
  
  
  


 

  


  



	2. Yerim - 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yerim really hates her dreams, and dream theory in general, and definitely the new girl who her newest dream seems to revolve around.

Yerim wake up in a cold sweat. She was gripping onto her sheets like a life-line and she was breathing sporadically. She reminded herself to breathe in and breathe out, though she couldn’t for long because in just a second she had ripped out her journal and was jotting down what she just saw.

 

She was pretty sure tears were falling down her face as a hand laid on her right shoulder, she jumped back but was only greeted by her best friend.

 

“See something new?” Jinsol quietly asked, her hand already on Yerim’s back rubbing comforting circles.

 

“Yeah, nothing to be worried about though.” She lied.

 

Her blonde best friend wrapped her arms around her expeditiously. Yerim appreciated it and even took the liberty to discontinue her writing to fall back onto Jinsol’s shoulder. “How about we go back to sleep and in the morning at the dining hall, I’ll save you chocolate strawberries and we can talk about it.”

 

Yerim sighs, she doesn’t want to wait to talk about it and she definitely won’t be able to just fall back asleep but it does sound appealing, “Sure, Jindollie.”

 

Jinsol only slightly giggles. Yerim climbs back in bed and turns over when she feels a push at her back. “Move over, I’m not going to let you push me off the bed again.”

 

“Jinsol you can’t sleep here! We’ve already broken this ru-“

 

“It’s not like Jungeun cares and anyway I want to make sure you don’t have anymore nightmares.”

 

Yerim melts and moves over, offering Jinsol some of the blanket. The blonde slips in and soon an arm is being wrapped around the brunette’s waist and the sound of light breathing starts to occur.

 

The younger knows that sleep will not come easy and with this thought buries her head in her companion’s shoulder.

 

-

Yerim wakes up to an empty bed, the only one still left in her room. It’s okay though when she goes down to the dining hall to a whole plate of chocolate dipped strawberries waiting for her.

 

“Thanks, Jinsol.”

 

The blonde ruffles her hair, “No problem little sis.”

 

The younger almost bristles. She  _ hates _ when Jinsol treats her like a little sister and not like a best friend, an equal. “So are we going to talk about my dreams?”

 

“You should eat first, get something in your stomach. You do realize I had to fight for those right?”

 

“Yes, I am so so thankful, my savior.” Yerim preaches making her voice higher than normal right before hitting Jinsol in the shoulder.

 

Jungeun then sits on the other side of them. “Can you guys go one day without being couple-ish? I’m trying to introduce a new student to you too.”

 

“What jealous?” Jinsol accuses.

 

“Why would she be jealous, we’re not dating.”  _ Because why would Jungeun ever be jealous of someone hopelessly pining over her best friend while her best friend literally has no clue about it and will never return the other’s feelings. _

 

“I didn’t say that, we wouldn’t be a bad couple anyway.” Jinsol says wrapping an arm around her. Yerim just enjoys it while it’s there.

 

“Sure, Jungeun is that’s what you want. What’s her name, is she in any clubs or anything?” Yerim is genuinely concerned, she wants all new students to feel included as possible.

 

“Hyejoo, she’s quiet particular so be careful with her. I can’t tell if she’s just shy or hates this place though I’m leaning more towards the latter. And she just got here yesterday so I don’t think she signed up for anything, you guys are in the same year though.” The blonde across from her says before trying to steal a strawberry. Yerim slaps her hand anyway.

 

“Not even one?” Jungeun asks referring to the strawberries.

 

“Not even one. Anyway I’ll try to make her feel welcome, new students should see that there is a lot of good to this school.” 

 

“Didn’t you love this school immediately. Anyway it doesn’t even matter since you’re living sunshine.” Jinsol says.

 

“Both of those statements are true, but I could still show her the fun and exciting things here. Like the animals, they’re so fun to pet!”

 

“Just try not to bother her much, okay?” Jungeun asks.

 

“I’ll try.” She says.

 

It doesn’t even matter because a whole group is heading to their table. Yerim quickly recognizes them, it’s Kahei, Haseul, Heejin, Hyunjin, and Yeojin. She quickly springs from her seat to give them all hugs and greetings,  _ oh she’s missed them. _

 

Haseul quickly pats her head and talks about how much taller she has gotten, Haseul’s so motherly it's concerning. Kahei and Heejin both offer her a hug, and Hyunjin a quick handshake. All Yeojin does is walk past her but that’s expected, Yeojin has never been much for greeting or feelings.

 

Yerim is jovial until she turns around she sees Yeojin in her spot, eating a strawberry. “You-”

 

“Mind your profanity.” Haseul and Jungeun says at the same time.

 

“You horrible strawberry-stealer.” She accuses pointing at her other best friend.

 

“Not my fault, you left them exposed.”

 

“Jinsol you were supposed to guard my strawberries!”   


“Yeah Jinsol.” Yeojin replies.

 

The three of them start laughing and in just a moment it becomes just like it was last year, just without Jiwoo and Sooyoung. Jungeun and Heejin quickly start talking about their summers and how they went while Jinsol and Hyunjin gossip, she on the other hand is quietly talking to Yeojin. 

 

Then Jiwoo and Sooyoung came, with the other kids from their dorm. Yerim was extremely excited to meet them until she saw the second one. The first one looked harmless, blonde almost the same shade as Jungeun’s and a little bit on the shorter side just like she was. Then she saw the other one, taller than most, black hair, standing extremely straight and looking discontented, 

 

that was the girl from her dream.

 

“I have to use the restroom.” She says to Yeojin urgently.

 

Yerim rushes to the closest bathroom. She locks the stall shut and puts her back against the door. She’s absolutely petrified and has no idea, why she, is hanging out with her friend group and getting close to them. The brunette hates her, already hates her so much, so so  so much. Yerim wipes her eyes and seethes, she won’t let that girl get close to any of her friends.

 

Then she hears a voice outside. “Hey, I’m new. I’m sorry if I did anything to offend you.”

 

“What, I’m just using the restroom.” Yerim tries to lie.

 

“You’ve been in there for about ten minutes.” She hears the voice say and she can only infer it’s  _ her. _

 

“I’m also quickly fixing my makeup.”

 

“Okay, well I’m sorry if I did anything.”

 

_ You did everything, you did fucking everything.  _ “Nah, you did nothing. Go out and eat, I’ll be out there soon.”

 

“That's good. I’m hoping we can become friends.”

 

_ I’d never be friends with a murderer. _

 

“Yeah, me too?”

 

“Hyejoo, it’s Hyejoo. And you?”

 

“Yerim, Choi Yerim.”

 

“Well I guess it’s been a pleasure to meet you.”

 

“Me too.”

 

Yerim eventually does go out and sit, though as far away from Hyejoo as possible. Which isn’t really a challenge because Hyejoo is already a foot apart from everyone else. She pretends to listen to what Yeojin as saying right as an announcement is starting.

 

Mr. Yang, their principal has started to speak. “So yesterday something unfortunate happen to the nature room. Where the nature students train and treasure, a place that’s been used for many years. Ever since the school opened was destroyed.”

 

A whole chorus of gasps was heard across the hall. Some cursed and Yerim thought she saw the leader of the students crying. The whole room destroyed, Yerim didn’t know if she could handle the dreamcatcher room being destroyed. She felt like it was second home to her and she even though she would be devastated, Minji would be completely destroyed. She turned to look at Jiwoo and saw her eyes watering, she felt genuine anger at whoever thought it would okay to destroy the room.

 

“Sadly even though years of work have been erased, we are working to find the culprit. Nature students, the room will be completely open for the next week for you all to rebuild and cleanse before the rest of the new students arrive. If anything else happens to the room I’ll update you about the situation.”

 

“I can’t believe someone would do that. I’d be furious if that happened to the fish tank.” Jinsol said.

 

“We worked for years on that.” Jiwoo said keeping her eyes down, Yerim could only infer she was crying or was close to it. Sooyoung laid a hand on her shoulder and Jungeun made sure to flash her a supportive smile.

 

“I’m sorry that this happened.” Hyejoo said.

 

“You didn’t do anything.” Jiwoo said, wiping her eyes.

 

“I’m still sorry.” 

 

“It’s okay.” Jiwoo said, barely being able to talk.

 

“We’ll go look at it with you later.” Yerim offered. She hated seeing Jiwoo be different from her regular cheerful self.

 

“That sounds good, I’d appreciate it. Group hug?”

 

Yerim immediately jumped up with the rest of the group, not matter how much everyone else complained about how touchy the others were she knew they all adored group hugs. She just hoped this one would be efficient in cheering Jiwoo up. It even made her feel better until she saw Hyejoo staring at them from the side.

 

-

 

Classes haven’t started yet, there is still another half a week. But Yerim tries to get ahead while she can, signing up for clubs and working on the occasional worksheet. It’s also been her unofficial job to help Jinsol with the summer homework she's left for the last week before school, which is just about all of it.

 

She refuses to hang out with Sooyoung and her friends. Sooyoung and Jiwoo’s couple antics while cute can even get on her nerves at times (even though Jungeun says she does the exact same thing with Jinsol) and she can’t stand Hyejoo. Every time she sees her she’s torn between crying and screaming, and the worst thing is, she has no proof of what will happen but she knows it will.

 

That makes it even worse.

 

The other girl, the blonde one isn’t bad. She actually reminds Yerim of herself but she still doesn’t like her. She hangs out with Hyejoo too often and is a tiny bit too quiet for Yerim’s taste. Though Yerim knows she should give her more of a chance, she's actually decently nice and some of her jokes aren’t that bad. But those two have just about officially joined their friend group and are just around every time they do something as a unit.

 

They do a lot of things though usually some can’t be there. A meeting with one of their teachers in Heejin’s case, showing new students around in Jungeun’s case, doing inventory for the new library books in Haseul’s case, wanting her dorm room to herself to be intimate with another member of said dorm room in Sooyoung’s case, plotting a murder in Hyejoo’s case (which Yerim isn’t even joking about.)

 

Though all twelve figured out a time to meet to visit the nature room that Yerim was still in absolute shock about. While there were already students working on repairing it as briskly as possible it still made her flinch. Half of the room was torn down. All the flowers, the vines, and even a tree that laid in the room were dead. You could see where the leaves completely disintegrated or turned brown.

 

They all went in besides Hyejoo who had a plant allergy and Chaewon who wanted to keep her company. She didn’t blame them, Jiwoo almost broken down when she saw it. While most students didn’t care, Yerim cared with intensity. Anything that would hurt her friends hurt her. The fact that someone would do something intentionally malicious hurt her as she sincerely believed every student (except Hyejoo) was a good person even if she personally didn’t like them.

 

Besides that there wasn’t much. There wasn’t any more visions which she did expect, she usually only got one a week. Siyeon, who was probably most skilled in their bracket could get up to one a day though she said that took extreme practice and usually they weren’t important. They were most commonly in dreams but they could be there in the day time though as said in the history books only happened to the most powerful dreamcatchers and she was positive nobody in her school was that powerful.

 

She did think that maybe one of them this year could get close to that though. Siyeon was extremely skilled and even their new student this year Gahyeon had potential. Even she thought she wasn’t that bad, though she struggled when focusing on what to focus on in her dreams where as Siyeon could tell you exactly what it could.

 

Dream theory is extremely complicated and weird. There were weird loopholes and catch 22’s that were hard to even grasp, Yerim doubted that barely anybody could actually figure them out. Like how tigers are most likely to symbolize a tyrant, but you also had to add in the fact that this person might have had a negative or positive experience with a tiger and then you add to add in if this has been in their dream before and then you have to add in everything else in the dream. And in the end the tiger couldn’t have even meant anything important compared to the rest of the dream.

 

Though the other girls in her bracket preached everything means something in a dream. Yoobin and Siyeon are the extreme supporters of this while Bora will say just focus on the important stuff. Then Minji and Handong would get involved and the debate would go on for hours and hours. It really just gives Yerim a headache. 

 

“So in your dream, did you see her murder somebody and did they just die close to her.”

 

“Jinsol I’ve already said this, I saw her hands on them. I don’t know what she was using to kill of if she was before, but I’m about ninety percent positive.”

 

“You sure you didn’t see the face?” Jinsol prods.

 

“I have no idea who it is.” She lies.

 

“And are you sure this wasn’t just figurative?”

 

“This is the most vivid dream I’ve ever had. And if it was figurative I would have most likely seen animals instead of humans, by dream theory standards.”

 

“You are sure of this?"

 

“I am sure!” Yerim snaps.

 

Jinsol frowns and gets off the bed. “I know this is probably annoying you-”

 

“It is.”

 

The blonde just keeps going on, “I just want to make sure you’re safe. I want to be there to protect you if anything serious happens.”

 

“Thanks I appreciate it.”

 

“That’s not what I expected you to say.” Jinsol says.

 

“What did you expect me to say then, don’t fight my battles for me. That’s basic and overused, also we both know I couldn’t win in a fight with a fly.”

 

“If anything you’d be like, _ that fly has a family and a home Jinsol would you want someone to do  _ _ that to you?” _

__

Yerim doesn’t even want to say anything knowing it’s so accurate. “Yeah, I don’t care what has to happen to keep both of us safe. My parents almost tried to pull me out with the disappearing students last year.”

__

“Really? I just think they ran away.” Jinsol said from her new spot perched on the desk, Yerim is sitting at.

__

“Ahh, I think that’s the most likely option. I don’t know how or why you would run away though.”

__

“What you think they got murdered, kidnapped?”  _ With my dream I know think anything is possible.  _

__

“We can’t rule out every possible scenario.” She says.

__

“That’s bullshit, this is the safest school for kids with powers.”

__

“I don’t know Jinsol, I just don’t know.”

__

“At least nothing happened to us. Did you know they’re adding a new class.” Jinsol says.

__

“What? I have literally been as active as possible around here the last couple days and I’ve heard about it.”

__

“That’s because it’s a secret. And everybody knows you shouldn’t trust Jungeun with secrets. It’s a class about dead powers, they’re history and why we shouldn’t forget them and all that.”

  
“Hmm, it might be interesting.”

__

“Probably not. I’ll probably sleep.”

__

“But don’t you usually sleep in applying math to powers?” She asks.

__

“I’ll sleep in both. Anyway if you aren’t in the dining hall in at least an hour what food do you want me to bring back?” Jinsol asks grabbing her coat.

__

For a second Yerim can’t speak. Jinsol looks amazing in the golden hour light. The blonde’s hair looks like it’s glowing in the sunlight and her eyes gleam playful and youthful. Even the way she hold herself is beautiful to Yerim, confident and cool something she don’t think she could be. Then she’s snapped out of it when Jinsol repeats the last of her question, “So what food do you want?”

__

“I want pasta, I don’t care what kind.”

__

As Jinsol just leaves the room she elaborates, “And strawberries of course!”

__

The blonde yells back, “You think I didn’t know that.”

__

For the first time in days Yerim laughs though that small happiness is short-lived when all she’s soon greeted with are her thoughts and a textbook in front of her. School hasn’t even started but everything already seems vigorous.

__

Yerim curses whoever wrote, the guide to dream theory. She hopes their dreams are filled with nothing but non symbolic tigers.

__

-

By the time Jinsol had brought her food she had basically given up, she had been over her textbook about two times and was just about to head to the library to grab a different one. Jinsol was quick to accompany her and they went to search through books.

__

Yerim didn’t think she could stand another book with dream theory in it, though she was confident that it was the only one that could help her. The brunette just picked up a random book and looked for some more general books.

__

She also wanted something to help control her power more. Make her dreams more frequent or make it so her dreams would only narrow on the important things. “How about this one?”

__

“That doesn’t look too bad.” Yerim said inspecting the one her companion had picked out.  _ Development of powers and power control over the centuries.  _ It didn’t look that bad. Yerim quickly picked it up and looked at the authors and the index. It luckily had a chapter about her power and with that she pocketed the book.

__

They were on their way out when Yerim saw,  _ her.  _ Hyejoo was laying under a desk and Yerim was absolutely shocked, the raven haired girl was able to turn the place into a makeshift home. She was using the back of the desk as a head rest, and had a blanket placed across her body. She had pulled out one of the drawers to show a shrine of snacks and books she kept. Sugarcube was on the desk above her which almost made Yerim smile, that cat basically hated everyone, Hyejoo was even reading the book Yerim had just picked up.

__

“What are you doing there?” Jinsol asked and Yerim slapped her arm. Yerim would much rather just avoid Hyejoo all together and go back to their room. 

__

“Oh, I sleep here.” The girl said somehow backing up even more under the desk than possible.

__

“Why?”

  
“There is plants all over my room, my allergy is too extreme to sleep in there. And I don’t want Jiwoo to remove what she’s worked hard on making look nice.”

__

Yerim instantly feels something even towards someone as horrible as Hyejoo. She doesn’t like her, hates her even, doesn’t want to trust her and she can’t trust her. But Yerim can’t stand to see someone hurt or even struggling just a bit. So she tries to excuse what she saw,  _ but my dream could be figurative. _

__

_ But dreams with people are never figurative,  _ an imaginary Siyeon says from her shoulder.

__

_ Maybe it’s just a warning. _

__

_ You and I both know that’s not true, Siyeon fires back. _

__

_ Who cares, dreams are weird anyway, she responds. _

__

_ Dreams are weird anyway but this doesn’t make it any less of a bad idea. _

__

_ Lecture me about it when class starts then. _

__

“You can sleep in our room if you want.” She says before Jinsol can even say anything.

__

“Yeah! I don’t usually sleep in my bed so you can sleep in mine.”

__

“Don’t make her sleep in your bed. We have an extra bed and mattress, you could bring your blankets and pillow to put there. I don’t think you would want to sleep in Jinsol’s bed, it smells like her.”

__

“Are you inferring what I think you are inferring.” Jinsol accuses her.

__

Yerim sadly knows exactly what Jinsol is talking about, “I’m not saying you smell like fish, I didn’t even mention fish!”

__

“But you inferred it, you and I both know I shower everyday. I don’t even sleep in my bed that often anymore anyway!” Yerim then prays she won-

__

“I sleep in your bed just about every night!”

__

_ fuck, Hyejoo’s going to get the wrong idea _

__

“That’s not true, and anyway I think Hyejoo would be completely comfortable on the spare bed!”

__

Then they just hear a burst of laughter. They both look to the third party in the situation and Hyejoo is just laughing. Her laughter was quiet as bell, meaning it could be heard throughout the entire library. It made Yerim smile, she liked it when other people were happy.

__

“I’ll about it but I think I’ll stay here tonight. It’s surprisingly comfortable and I wouldn’t want to cause you two any disturbance. Also if I was going to stay in your room, I’d stay in the spare bed, with where I’m from I’ve had enough of the ocean.”

__

Yerim then immediately starts laughing while Jinsol just crosses her arms and stares ahead. “I  do not smell like fish, I do not understand you two.”

__

“Just admit it and we can move on.” Yerim says patting her shoulder.

__

“I hate you both.” Jinsol says walking towards the checkout area.

__

“Have a nice night Hyejoo.” She says quickly before rushing to catch up to Jinsol.

__

“You too!” Is called from behind her.

__

They quickly check out the book before heading back to the room. Thankfully their room is quite close to the library. It’s less than five minutes away and with how massive the school is she knows a couple dorms where a small trip to the library could take more than fifteen minutes. 

__

“I don’t really smell like fish do I?” Jinsol asks right before they get to their room.

__

“You idiot, you don’t. You smell a tiny bit like the ocean but it’s nice. I like it.” She says.

__

“Just wondering if I should invest in perfume.”

__

Yerim wouldn’t like that. While Jinsol does smell a tiny bit like the ocean, the brunette likes it. And whenever she goes by the tank, she’s reminded about Jinsol. (Though she normal thinks about her best friend for at least a couple hours a day though she doesn’t want to admit it.)

__

“No. It was a joke, you smell nice anyway.”

__

“Thank god,” The blonde says unlocking their room for them both.

__

“Oh my god, is Jungeun already asleep.”

__

“Don’t say that so loud, she really could be asleep.” Yerim whispers.

__

“Oh yeah.” Jinsol says right as Yerim hits her with one of her books.

__

“I don’t blame her, hasn’t all she been doing is showing around students for the last few days. I honestly feel like she deserves a break.”

__

“Me too.” Jinsol reponds.

__

They quickly get ready for bed doing their usual routine, arguing over whoever gets to use to sink first and if the other is accidently wearing their pajamas. Yerim plays along with every argument but she really doesn’t care, this is their routine and nothing could ruin it not even when Jinsol uses her powers to splash her shirt with water. They eventually calm down and try to be quiet for Jungeun’s sake.

__

When they head to bed, Yerim doesn’t even argue for Jinsol to go to her own bed. It's just not worth arguing anymore, no matter how many goals they set Jinsol always end up in her bed. Jinsol always says it’s because she wants to be right there if Yerim has a nightmare and Yerim can’t fight it because it’s gotten to the point that it’s hard to sleep if Jinsol’s not there.

__

Yerim is confident that they’re one of the only pairs in the school that know each other out of the academy. They’re actually neighbors and throughout the whole summer they would sleep in

each other’s room, at this point it just feels weird when they aren’t ending and starting their day together. Yerim knows it’s going to have to end but she’s going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Then it hits her, Yerim had almost let a  _ murderer _ sleep in her room.

She had offered Hyejoo a place to sleep in their room, close to her and her best friends. Hyejoo could just wake up in them middle of the night and murder them all with no remorse, Yerim wanted to scream. She almost let her sleep in their room,  _ that monster. _

A voice inside her head said her dream could be wrong. Yerim had never had a wrong dream, neither did anyone in her house. Wrong dreams just usually don’t happen and there was no way it was figurative. Yerim couldn’t let herself see the good in Hyejoo just because she was nice, serial killers are nice, animals abusers can be nice, school shooters can be nice.

The brunette banged her head against the wall,  _ I am so fucking stupid. _

She couldn’t let her positive side get the best of her. If she wanted to keep her friends and other students safe, she can’t trust Hyejoo, she refuses to.

Yerim slips out of bed as quietly as possible and slips into the bathroom. She sits in the bathtub and she cries, cries, and cries. 

She cries because there is a murderer in their school and there is nothing she can do about it. 

She cries because Hyejoo is just a girl, just a student, she's even the same age as her. 

She cries because dream theory makes no sense and she doesn’t want to do as bad as last year. 

She cries because of all the missing kids.

She cries because Jinsol will never like her back.

She cries because if Minji or Siyeon got a dream like this, they would actually know what to do.

And lastly she cries because she doesn’t even know if her dream is set in stone or not.

Yerim really wants to scream instead.

  
  


__   
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading again! I wanted to post on Wednesday but I got braces and school started and all the motivation was sucked out of me. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are excited for the next one! Also don't forget to leave criticism or critique, I like hearing it to try to improve my reading!

**Author's Note:**

> When my friends asked did you get this idea from harry potter I was like nope bitch, sky high. But anyway thank you for reading and I hope you anticipate the upcoming chapter. I won't be jumping into the ships immediately, at least I want to flesh out the world more. Also the next chapter will be in Yerim's point of view. For updating, I won't promise a schedule because we all know I would just break it, but I promise I will try to write as frequently as possible!


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